


beautiful idiot

by gothoria



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Bathrooms, Billy Hargrove Being Less of an Asshole, Boys In Love, Fist Fights, Gay Billy Hargrove, House Party, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Neil Hargrove's A+ Parenting, Partying, Short & Sweet, Song fic, anyway, bloody noses, cleaning up your wounded lover, inspired by a song, its not shown, just mentioned, poor guy, someone messes with steve and billy doesn’t like it, something’s always gotta happen at his parties, that beautiful moment where you catch someone looking back, the sliGHTEST ANGST, tommy hagan’s parties trope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:13:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27112438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gothoria/pseuds/gothoria
Summary: Steve thought he was the dumb one in their relationship but honestly, Billy is acting pretty dumb.Doesn’t mean Steve doesn’t love him.He kinda likes having someone fight for him.–Just sweet. That’s all this is. Sweet. Steve taking care of Billy after he gets into a fight because someone said something bad to Steve. Then, the moment where all is right and you are young and in love.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 11
Kudos: 116





	beautiful idiot

**Author's Note:**

> “There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment.” - Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever.

Normally by now, Steve would head home. Parties weren’t his scene anymore, everyone knew that. 

Still, he would never pass up on an opportunity to hang out with his boyfriend in front of everyone, even if they didn’t know that they were together in that way. Hiding such a thing from the rest of Hawkins gave Steve an adrenaline rush. Everyone still believed that both of them were straight. It was amazing how no one had figured it out. Tammy Thompson could look at him with flirty eyes, eyes that went down his body, and Steve would barely pay attention. Billy was his main focus, constantly. 

He played it off well. If anyone asked why Steve kept on following Billy around like a lost puppy, he would say, “I’m just being a good friend,” and that was that. 

By now, Billy would head home too. They would both be getting in their cars, ready to go back to Steve’s for a movie and some food before they took a shower and slipped under the covers, bodies tangled together. 

It’s safe to say that Billy getting in a fight with a fellow junior was not on the itinerary for tonight. 

The junior undoubtedly had it coming. Rick had been pushing Steve around, bringing up Nancy, his lack of direction, his poor school grades. Steve was tired of it and had thrown the rest of his spiked punch down Rick’s white shirt. Rick wasn’t thrilled at the carelessness that Steve presented, how Steve gave barely any reaction to him. So, he swung at Steve. He missed obviously because Steve had gone against monsters with lightning-fast claws and he had learned to hurry if he didn’t want those claws digging into his side and ripping out his kidneys.

The fact that Steve hadn’t even gotten hurt didn’t sway Billy once word reached him that Rick was trying to fight his boyfriend. Billy had come out of the basement of Tommy’s house, blue eyes hazy, his face full of indescribable rage. Billy had reached the kitchen where Steve and Rick still were, the crowd of teens that had been dancing their hearts out had gone still. A majority of them were in the doorway, watching and waiting to see what Billy would do. Everyone knew that he was unpredictable. It would end with Rick on the floor, for sure, but just how would he get there? 

Billy had pulled on Rick’s shoulder with enough force to make Rick face him. Then, Steve had heard a nose cracking, and the scream that came from Rick’s mouth. 

The room exploded with energy, Steve could barely keep up with the voices cheering Billy on. 

Steve debated pulling Billy off, but when he saw how angry Billy was, he decided it was better to let Billy go to town with Rick’s face. That was probably the less rational side of him saying that Rick deserved it. 

_“Kick his ass, Hargrove!”_

And Billy did, he was throwing punches down like there was a motor inside of him screaming at him to beat the crap out of Rick Flanagan. The kitchen tiles were getting stained with blood. Tommy was gonna have a total meltdown when he came up to see the stain on his kitchen floor. 

The cheers never stopped. Steve could see the wild grin that was brought to Billy’s face, how his hair was flinging around in the air as his entire body moved with his punches. The sound of bone colliding with bone was so loud that Steve had trouble focusing on anything else. 

All he did for a while was lean against the kitchen counter, watching as his boyfriend laid into Rick. Then, he winced when Rick actually managed to get a punch to Billy’s nose. Billy recovered quickly and bloodied his knuckles even further once he started putting more force into his punches. 

He pulled Billy off after a few more minutes had passed, started leading them to the bathroom in Tommy’s basement. Rick had gotten a hit in and Billy’s nose was bleeding. It wasn’t broken, not like Rick’s, but bleeding. 

“You know, you’re an idiot.” 

“Yeah, but I’m hot too. That kinda makes up for everything, don’t you think?” 

Steve tries not to smile. 

“Sure, yeah. It does.” 

Billy grins. 

“Knew it.” 

Steve pushes open the door to the bathroom with his foot, lets go of Billy’s arm, and seats Billy down on the toilet. The bathroom is a little too small; it being in the basement and all. Their bodies are closer than they would be if this were the bathroom that is connected to Steve’s bedroom. 

“I really can’t believe you went crazy on Rick like that.” 

Billy huffs, spreading his legs like he owns the house, and this is _his_ bathroom. “I wasn’t gonna let him say that shit about you, Stevie. Fucking dick..” He argues, running a finger over his bloody knuckles and scratching at the exposed skin. Steve smacks his hand away, reaches for the hand towel that hung from a hook by the door, starts running it under the sink with cold water. 

“You know, your nose is kinda messing with your looks. All that blood is turning me off.” Billy laughs, that genuine laugh that he only lets Steve hear, and lifts Steve’s shirt the tiniest bit so he can run his fingers up and down Steve’s skin and not just the fabric of the blue and white striped shirt Steve is wearing. “You’ll still let me kiss you, though.” He says. Steve rolls his eyes. He _would_ let Billy kiss him, but that’s so not the point right now. 

“Not my point, genius. You’re reckless, you know that?” Billy nods and shrugs his shoulders a bit. “It’s what makes me, me.” He’s going to be the death of Steve. 

Steve shuts the water off, takes the hand towel in both hands, and wrings it out. “Why do I love you?” He asks, tone teasing because Billy already has a million issues with love and Steve doesn’t want to add to those issues. Billy understands, grins once again because he loves winning and this is him winning. “Because you do. Hey, I love you too.” Steve smiles, looks down so that Billy can’t see the smile, and yelps when Billy stops running his fingers up and down Steve’s skin and instead pokes a finger into his side. 

“You’re smiling, aren’t you?” He whispers, grin turning into one that Steve could imagine being a picture that goes with the definition of, ‘ _Menace._ ’ 

“Not at all.” 

“Liar.” 

The flicker of the bathroom lights would scare Steve if he was alone. Right now, he has Billy. Billy who would fight for Steve even if he never asked him to. Billy who is currently bleeding because Rick said something like, _“So fucking dumb. No wonder that Wheeler bitch dumped your ass. You’re not going anywhere in life, Harrington.”_

God, he loves Billy Hargrove. Not even Nancy would defend him against that, not like Billy had. Nancy would just smile sheepishly at him, run a hand up and down his arm and ask him if they could leave. 

Billy doesn’t do any of those things. He’s different. 

“Hey, you gonna play nurse or not?” 

Steve makes a questioning noise, looks over to where Billy is sitting and finds him staring pointedly at the rag Steve has in his hands. 

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, let’s see. Face forward, and straight,” Damn it, he walked right into that one. Billy darts his tongue across the top row of his teeth, gives Steve that smirk that makes every Hawkins girl drop to their knees. It makes his blue eyes cloudy and full of mischief. They look beautiful under the fluorescent lights. 

“But I’m not straight, baby. You should know that.” 

Steve flings his head back and groans, smacks Billy with the wet hand towel and chuckles at the noise of disgust that Billy lets out. “Hey, watch it with that towel. Come on, I’ve got blood spilling onto my lip.” He tugs Steve by the arm, moving Steve in front of Billy and in between his still spread legs. 

He starts with the blood still leaking down Billy’s nose, wipes it off with one side and tries to get Billy’s face cleaner with another swipe. 

They’ve done this dance before. Billy’s had to do this for himself before, and every time he comes to Steve instead, it makes Steve wish that there was a way he could wrap Billy up in a million blankets and just roll him to Steve’s house. Never to be seen by Neil Hargrove again. 

“Hey, what’s going on in that head of yours? Me?” Billy asks, making Steve smile down at him. He’s started smiling a lot. Even the kids notice. 

“Nope.” He says, popping the p. Billy pouts at him, moves the white cloth that Steve has been pressing down on his nose away from his face. He takes it in his hands and starts washing the blood from his face, “I’ll just do this myself then. Fuck you.” Steve laughs, his ribs hurt a little, and he thinks it’s from when Rick shoved him into the kitchen counter. 

He takes the rag away, leans over to the sink, and starts running it under the water again. He watches the blood swirl down the drain, leaves it hanging there until the water runs clear, and then turns back to Billy. 

When he turns back, Billy is already looking at him. A wide smile on his face. 

The moment they’re in right now is that beautiful moment. The one where you turn to look at someone and catch them looking back. 

Steve ingrains this moment in his memory. How Billy’s cheeks are pink with the remnants of blood, how his freckles can barely be seen. How his blue eyes look grey under the white fluorescent lights, how his curls are so perfectly fluffed up because Billy spends more time on his hair than Steve. 

How so utterly in love he looks with Steve. 

Steve doesn’t know what he did to deserve someone like Billy. Someone that fights for Steve’s honor. Like some kind of Prince Charming. 

“Baby, you gonna take a picture?” 

Steve chuckles and shakes his head, moves the rag to Billy’s cheeks. He cleans off the rest of the blood, throws the rag into the sink without looking away. 

He holds Billy’s face in his hands and presses their lips together, kisses Billy slowly and deeply. Feels how they fit so perfectly together. Feels the heat radiating from Billy. He wants this forever. It feels so right. 

“Nah. Just never gonna let you go. Gonna kiss you for the rest of my life.” 

“I’ll always be there.” 

**Author's Note:**

> i’m on fire right now, i swear. as always, please let me know if you guys liked this, i’d appreciate it.


End file.
